Inflatable isolation walls for aircraft cabins

ABSTRACT

A partition for dividing a portion of an aircraft including at least a first inflatable cavity defined by a plurality of material sheets, and a nozzle configured to provide fluidic access to the first inflatable cavity, wherein the nozzle is configured to attach to an aircraft air vent.

CROSS REFERENCE AND PRIORITY

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 63/034,796 filed on Jun. 4, 2020, the contents of which are wholly incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND Technological Field

The present disclosure relates generally to protection against pathogen spread on an aircraft, specifically to an inflatable isolation wall.

Description of Related Art

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that pathogens can spread easily with the global travel. For that reason, it has become vital to minimize contamination and pathogen spread between passengers during flights. It is foreseeable that at some point happen that there may be a passenger or group of passengers on board an aircraft that is suspected of carrying COVID-19 or another virus. Right now, there are no ways to isolate a group of passengers effectively. There is a clear need in the art for isolating sick passengers from healthy ones. The present disclosure provides a solution for this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A partition for dividing a portion of an aircraft includes at least a first inflatable cavity defined by a plurality of material sheets, and a nozzle configured to provide fluidic access to the first inflatable cavity, wherein the nozzle is configured to attach to an aircraft air vent. The first inflatable cavity can include a plurality of interconnected cavities. At least a pair of cavities of the plurality of cavities can be temporarily coupled by a hook and loop coupling, a zipper, or by pins. The temporary coupler can extend partially from a first end of the inflatable cavity to the second end of the inflatable cavity

A portion of the partition can include a rounded edge configured to adhere to a wall or an overhead bin of the cabin. The plurality of inflatable cavities can extend from a first wall to a second wall and from a floor wall to a ceiling.

Each cavity may include an air passage connected to an adjacent cavity. At least a pair of opposing cavities on opposite sides of the temporary coupler can include air nozzles to be coupled to an aircraft passenger vent. The partition can be used by removing the inflatable partition from a storage compartment, attaching the partition to an air vent within a row of an aircraft and driving cabin air to the partition in order to inflate the partition. The partition can include an inflated position, and a collapsed position such that a storage pack can be used for storing the partition in the collapsed configuration, wherein the partition can be stored within a storage unit of the aircraft.

These and other features of the systems and methods of the subject disclosure will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that those skilled in the art to which the subject disclosure appertains will readily understand how to make and use the devices and methods of the subject disclosure without undue experimentation, embodiments thereof will be described in detail herein below with reference to certain figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an aircraft body showing an inflatable partition across the body;

FIG. 2 a cross-sectional view of the aircraft body of FIG. 1 showing how air enters each of the partitions;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the aircraft body showing an inflatable partition in situ;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of air passing from one partition to an adjacent one;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of air passing from one partition to an adjacent one; and

FIG. 6 is a view of a stored view of the partition of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like reference numerals identify similar structural features or aspects of the subject disclosure. For purposes of explanation and illustration, and not limitation, a partial view of an exemplary embodiment of an inflatable partition is shown in FIG. 1 and is designated generally by reference character 100. Other embodiments of the partition in accordance with the disclosure, or aspects thereof, are provided in FIGS. 2-6, as will be described. The partition can be used to isolate a sick passenger, group or passengers, or an entire section of the cabin from the rest of the passengers in flight while also keeping the potentially sick passengers comfortable in their seat.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-6, a partition 100 for cordoning of a portion aircraft, includes a plurality of cavities 102 stitched together using at least a front and a back sheet. The partition 100 includes a pair of nozzles 104 each within its own half of the partition which attaches to a passenger air vent 106. The partition 100 is partially split down the middle into two halves, where the halves are coupled to each other by a hook and loop coupling, a zipper, pins or any other acceptable coupling 108 that stops airflow through the partition split. The temporary coupler 108 extends partially from a first end 110 of the inflatable cavity to the second end 111 of the inflatable cavity not quite reaching the top.

The partition 100 includes rounded edges 112 that adhere to the walls and to the overhead bin of the cabin of the aircraft. The partition 100 at the center extends from a first wall 114 to a second wall 116 and from a floor 118 wall to a ceiling 120 of the aircraft.

Each cavity 102 includes an air passage 122 connected to an adjacent cavity in order to pass air from one to another starting with the cavity attached to the nozzle. The partition 100 can be used by removing 100 from a storage compartment 124, attaching the partition 100 to an air vent 106 located within a row between seats and driving cabin air to the partition by turning on the air vent and inflating the partition 100.

The systems of the present disclosure, as described above and shown in the drawings, provide for an improved inflatable partition that provides protection to passengers within an aircraft from pathogen spread while keeping the potentially ill passengers comfortable and visible to the crew. While the apparatus and methods of the subject disclosure have been shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that changes and/or modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the subject disclosure. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A partition for dividing a portion of an aircraft comprising: at least a first inflatable cavity defined by a plurality of material sheets; and a nozzle configured to provide fluidic access to the first inflatable cavity, wherein the nozzle is configured to attach to an aircraft air vent.
 2. The partition of claim 1, the first inflatable cavity includes a plurality of interconnected cavities.
 3. The partition of claim 2, wherein the at least a pair of cavities of the plurality of cavities are temporarily coupled.
 4. The partition of claim 3, wherein the plurality of cavities are coupled by a hook and loop coupling, a zipper, or by pins.
 5. The partition of claim 3, wherein the temporary coupler extends partially from a first end of the inflatable cavity to the second end of the inflatable cavity Do you mean that multiple partitions can be connected with each other? Or do you mean that there is one partition that can be sectioned by inflating the partition partially? In case 1, I would not necessarily mention a zipper since it is too narrowed down already. I would make it more general, since e.g. velcro could also be an option to connect multiple partitions. In case 2, I do not think that a zipper is able to block the air enough from flowing to a new cavity. In that case, the same partition has multiple interconnected cavities, sections so to say, that can be inflated separately by its own nozzle. In this way one could have a small partition up to a partition that is floor to ceiling.
 6. The partition of claim 2, wherein a portion of the partition includes a rounded edge configured to adhere to a wall or an overhead bin of the cabin. I know we discussed the rounded edge in our previous meeting, but I don't know whether this rounded portion will be used. Can we either make it “may include” instead of “includes” or this rounded edge can be a separate section (as described at point 3, case 2).
 7. The partition of claim 1, wherein the partition includes an inflated position, and a collapsed position.
 8. The partition of claim 1, further comprising a storage pack for storing the partition in the collapsed configuration.
 9. The partition of claim 2, wherein the plurality of inflatable cavities extends from a first wall to a second wall.
 10. The partition of claim 2, wherein the plurality of inflatable cavities extends from a floor wall to a ceiling.
 11. The partition of claim 2, wherein each cavity includes an air passage connected to an adjacent cavity.
 12. The partition of claim 7, wherein the partition is stored within a storage unit of the aircraft.
 13. The partition of claim 2, wherein at least a pair of cavities include air nozzles.
 14. An aircraft division system comprising: at least a first inflatable cavity defined by a plurality of material sheets; a nozzle configured to provide fluidic access to the first inflatable cavity, wherein the nozzle is configured to attach to an aircraft air vent; and an aircraft passenger vent.
 15. The aircraft division system of claim 14, wherein the inflatable cavity is stored within a storage space in a collapsed position when not in use.
 16. A method of dividing an aircraft cabin comprising: removing an inflatable partition from a storage compartment; attaching the partition to an air vent within a row of an aircraft; driving cabin air to the partition in order to inflate the partition.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising attaching an edge of the partition to a ceiling of the aircraft.
 18. The method of claim 16, further comprising attaching an edge of the partition to a wall of the aircraft.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the edge adheres flush to the wall from a first end of the edge to a second end of the edge. 